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National Reputation
Bank of America – it doesn’t get better!
December 22, 2010 | 
Author 
No single company has had its reputation shredded quite like Bank of America over the past few years except for maybe BP, or ‘British Petroleum’ as President Obama likes to call them. Every day another story comes out over their processes around foreclosures and mortgages. Now Nevada and Arizona have filed suit against Bank of America saying it has been deceiving homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bad Press, Bank Reputations, Company Reputation, Damage Limitation, National Reputation | 
Tags: Bank of America, Bank of America Corporation, Bank of America Home Loans, BOFA PTE. LTD., BP Plc, Business/Finance, Finance, Foreclosure, MERS, Mortgage, Mortgage servicer, Obama, Personal finance, President, Real estate, Real property law, Subprime lending | 
2 Comments »
The Conundrum of Reputational Risk
The lawsuit filed against Ernst & Young for their auditing of Lehman Brothers and their acceptance of the now notorious “Repo 105″ manoeuvre that Lehman used to hide their leverage in their quarterly filing and thereby mislead investors as to the true state of their finances has revealed that some of E&Y’s auditors were concerned and brought up the issue of “reputational risk”.
Reputational risk is growing more fashionable as a concept among strategy thinkers but rarely has much traction among the board or within the C-Suite where a fight between quick profit and long term reputation is usually a round one knockout to profit. Reputational risk is a function that considers the risk of reputation damage as one of the criteria in decision making. The question goes: “what will people think about us or our products if we make this decision, it might be profitable but long term will we lose out as our reputation suffers for being dishonest, etc.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Company Reputation, HR Reputation, National Reputation, Personal Reputation, PR / Public Relations | Tags: Auditing, Banks, Business/Finance, Derivatives, Ernst & Young AG, Ernst & Young s.r.o., Finance, Goldman Sachs, Investment, Investment banks, Lehman Brothers, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Repurchase agreement, reputation, Reputation Management, Reputational risk, Risk, Society | 1 Comment »
Mediagate, scams, ethics- New India intolerant of corruption
The Mediagate as its being called in India, the tapes, has brought out a serious deficit in ethics in the country.
On the one side you have a corporate lobbyist Niira Radia dictating what is to be conveyed to politicians as the government was being formed to journalists via phone conversations; and on the other hand serious journalists blurring ethical lines and milking corporate sources by playing along, seeming to be a go-between the politicians and the money bags.
The questions that come up here… Read the rest of this entry »
Kazakhstan Is The Greatest Country In The World
‘Unofficial official Borat sequel’ announced, with a view to fixing the county’s damaged reputation. Kazakh film director Erkin Rakishev says “Every Kazakhstani who goes to the West feels uncomfortable to say where he or she is from”. Apparently, Sacha Baron Cohen’s blockbuster hit of 2006 depicting a Kazakh journalist travelling to the US to record ‘Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ is the reason that his fellow countrymen (and women) have been shamed.
Posted in Celebrity, Damage Limitation, National Reputation | Tags: borat, borat sequel, kazakhstan, sacha baron cohen | No Comments »
The girls and grass affairs that damaged Silvio Berlusconi’s reputation
Even as more reports of allegations of sleaze and sex allegations of Italian prime Minister are being complied by the press, Silvio Berlusconi enjoyed a resounding victory in provincial elections. The alleged reports of sex, girls and marijuana in his private jets seem to have been ignored by the people of Italy, a country in which politicians are held to far less exacting standards of moral conduct than in Britain or the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in National Reputation, Personal Reputation, politicians | Tags: belly dancer, reputation, sex girls, Silvio Berlusconi, sleaze | 1 Comment »
New Model Scam Law
There aren’t many people who wouldn’t be flattered to hear that somebody thought they had the potential to be a model. In a society that tells you that unless you buy in to the cosmopolitan culture of perfect bodies and catalogue fashion, fraudsters have been left for years to prey on girls and women seeking affirmation on their appearance. Now though, ‘Pretty Protection’ rules have been put in place to crack down on rogue modelling agencies looking to capitalise on the vulnerable.
The modelling scam is fairly straightforward – through various mediums girls are being approached, courted, and being assured that they have what it takes to make it in the modelling industry. They’re asked to attend photo shoots or registration events where they’re pampered and treated like royalty. They’re led to believe that paid work will be forthcoming from an extensive list of clients, and just when the ‘mark’ is about to sign on the dotted line, the trap is sprung.
In order to sign up to these agencies, the girls (ok, so guys are just as susceptible to this too, but statistically speaking the main demographic of those affected are female) have to come up with a ‘signup fee’ or an ‘agency retainer’ on the expectation of making the money back on modelling work. By the time the session is over, victims might have handed over sums that reach the high hundreds. And unfortunately, save for an occasional email or letter informing them they’ve had no interest yet, this is often the last time most people hear anything.
The new rules are as follows:
As of 01/10/2010, it is now illegal for model agencies to charge any type of upfront fee before finding a client work.
Any company caught trying to do that could face an unlimited fine or be banned from operating for up to 10 years.
A 30-day cooling off period has been introduced for photographic work.
If you fall for that trick and pay for a portfolio of pictures you no longer want, you have a month to change your mind and ask for your money back.
Critics though have already said though that the new regulations aren’t sufficient to adequately protect against rogue modelling agencies, as there are still several loopholes still left gapingly wide open. There are however people you can speak to if you feel you are still being scammed, and they can be found here.
The problem now though is that people who genuinely want to make it in the modelling industry are left wondering who they can trust. With so many rogue agencies out there, it’s hard to identify who’s genuine and who isn’t. And now with awareness being raised as to the potential pitfalls of putting your trust in modelling scams, the legitimate agencies risk being tarred with the same brush. An unfortunate but classic case of ‘guilty by association’.
When you have a legitimate business of any ilk, you should look to protect your reputation and disassociate yourself from scammers in the same trade. At reputationmanagementfor.com, we’ve already spoken to spoken to modelling agencies over the last year who are concerned with being caught up in the negative light their ill-intentioned counterparts have been casting. If you have a business whose reputation is being questioned due to matters outside your control, then get in touch with us to find out how we can help you to protect your brand name and reputation. In fashion more than most industries – your name is your lifeblood.
email: info@reputationmanagementfor.com
Call: UK +44 (0) 845 862 1893
Call: USA +1 (212) 913 9035
Fighting ACS:Law
For those who aren’t yet aware, ACS:Law is the law firm who’re currently specialising in intellectual property law operating in the United Kingdom, and who’ve frequently been in the press creating a fuss over internet piracy.
ACS:Law, already a proverbial thorn in the proverbial sides of innocent internet users nationwide, reported that it has recently suffered a malicious attack and had over 5000 records of personal information leaked to the internet. These records included the names of thousands of people who’ve supposedly been filesharing pornographic videos online. While the information collected is by no means conclusive, it has left a lot of people worried about their reputation and being linked to some very questionable material. On Tuesday, British broadcasting giants Sky (whose customers were among those leaked) announced that until law firm ACS:Law could ensure “adequate measures to protect the security of personal information” it was ceasing any and all cooperation with the company.
And now, adding to what is becoming a legal pantomime, BT has just announced that it sent ACS:Law a list of it’s own customers in an entirely unencrypted format. D’oh!
For a company that prides itself in its reputation, this latest mistake is likely to cost the company a lot of consumer confidence as news spreads of BT’s misdemeanor. It’s been observed that sending the information to the lawfirm in an unencrypted file puts BT in serious breach of the Data Protection Act by failing to keep customers information secure.
On Wednesday Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said that he could levy fines of up to £500,000 for such breaches of data integrity. But can you really place a cost on trust? If you could, how much would it be worth to a company who brought in £248 million in profit for 2009? BT have never seemed like the kind of company that would show disregard for their customers, and maybe if they manage their reputation properly and deal with the current dilemma amicably, it wont cause them too big a hiccup.
One thing is for sure though, if there’d been any information on BT employees on that list it’d have certainly not have been released so casually!
Commonwealth Game 2010 – Child Labour’s New Nightmare
Indian Government Respond to News from the Commonwealth Games
There are certain allegations and activities that lie at the heart of an organisation’s reputation. Manufacturers instituting processes to guard against low cost labour sourcing becoming cheap labour or child labour is a critical component of reputation management. Remember the impact the news that Nike sourced its footballs from factories employing child labour. The same applies for nations and especially those nations with a previous notoriety for child labour.
If there was one thing that India wanted to avoid being implicated in during the preparation for the games, it was the use of child labour. Let’s be clear: child labour is illegal and is condoned by nobody. Indians who are already deeply shamed by the fiasco of the Commonwealth Games are now even more profoundly shocked by what they are discovering about labour policies. Even worse is that this should be taking place in Delhi in the centre of India.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that there has been a major failure in understanding the relationship between the games and national reputation management. It seems that the politicians misunderstood what these games represent. For them they were a facade, an event in their own right whose value was the event and nothing more. In fact these major events are exemplars of a country’s capability displayed to the world. A chance to change paradigm thinking. In India’s case an opportunity to show that the old impoverished India has been replaced by a new, ambitious and efficient India. In this event, it is the old India that is on display and every last facet is still to be seen.
Internally this may represent a pivotal moment if young India can seize it: a chance to rid themselves of the corrupted incompetence of Chandrasekhar and Dikshit who seem blindly insouciant about the reputation armageddon that they are in. The new India and the old are beginning to diverge as each shares a very different ambition for the country. The interesting question is what will happen now. Indian citizens are awaiting the response from the still silent Prime Minister.
Commonwealth Games 2010 countdown to save reputation down to 48 hours!
The Commonwealth Games 2010 that was in the midst of controversies right from the beginning have now been given 48 hours to save itself! With the team officials from different countries saying that they will be pulling out their athletes, in case issues are not addressed satisfactorily, the government is left with hardly any time to set things straight. Indian officials are feeling the heat more than ever before with CWF chief executive Mike Hooper saying there has been enough of the blame game and calling upon Indian officials to work together in order to avoid international embarrassment and save their reputation.
Being aware of the fact that it will be way too bad for the Games and the Commonwealth Movement in the future, as well as for India, if the games are called off at this moment, Indian officials at the helm of affairs are now doing all that they can to keep the games afloat. There are lots of pictures emerging about the current situation and it is only the Indian Government that has an answer to the current state of affairs.
What can be called to mind is that the Commonwealth Games are being hosted in the same city and country which has created records in completing the Delhi metro project (an intricate project that was planned and accomplished meticulously) and the golden quadrilateral (a highway network connecting the major cities of India). And so the question now is will they be able to repeat success this time as well, especially when the project in question is not one of national importance but one that is (being analysed, criticised and scrutinised) at the global level.
With a few top-notch leaders like Sheila Dikshit, Delhi Chief Minister vouching for the games and who was heard quoting “Something may be dripping, some tile may collapse, doesn’t mean the entire Games are bad,”; the support of other politicians at the helm of affairs who still believe they can make the game happen and with the prayers and well-wishes of a large number of Indians (though not all), many feel that there is still a slight hope for things to get better!
Will India make use of the golden opportunity to make a statement to the rest of the world as it originally intended to or will they goof it up…you will have to wait and see!
Posted in National Reputation | Tags: Commonwealth Games, CWG, India, India's reputation, Reputation Management | 1 Comment »
Commonwealth Games 2010. India’s Reputation Fiasco
Posted in National Reputation, politicians | Tags: Commonwealth Games, Corruption, Delhi, India, reputation | No Comments »